Archives: Book Reviews

Demons on the couch: Spirit Possession Exorcisms and the DSM-V by Michael J. Sersch

Reviewed by Todd Hayen
in IJRT Issue 31, 2020

Michael J. Sersch’s Demons on the Couch: Spirit Possession, Exorcisms and the DSM-5 is an immaculately researched and referenced treatise on possession and exorcism presented through the lens of modern psychotherapy and the DSM-5 (the diagnostic bible of the mental health field.)

Sersch states in his introduction:

In writing this book, I hope to answer why demonic possession has held a cultural fascination for over two millennia as well as how clinicians can successfully and ethically deal with patients who legitimately believe they are possessed by a spiritual force. There is also mounting evidence that integrating a patient/client’s worldview into clinical practice, including their spirituality and faith practices, increases their … Read the rest

11 October 2020

Ending the Endless Conflict: Healing Narratives from Past-Life Regressions to the Civil War by Joseph Mancini, Jr., PhD, CCHt

Reviewed by the Editor
In IJRT Issue 30, 2018

The author takes the reader on multiple journeys to the Civil War, believing it to be the primary source of the polarized thinking that haunts America today. He provides the potential for healing on both the individual and collective levels by investigating the Civil War in reference to past lives of seventeen individuals living today. He shows how limitations create intense anguish for both the present and past-life personae through an insistence on one-dimensional, stereotyped perspectives about self and other; failure to acknowledge and integrate the Shadow side of the psyche; inability to hold seemingly incompatible perceptions together while staying grounded; and profound lack of empathy for warring internal dimensions … Read the rest

31 January 2018

The Present Power of Past Lives by Joseph Mancini, Jr., Ph.D., CCHt

Reviewed by the Editor
In IJRT Issue 30, 2018

In late 2013, Joseph Mancini, Jr., PhD, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, conducted a series of radio interviews on VoiceAmerica with experts in the field of past lives, past-life regression, and consciousness studies. In this book, created from that series of interviews, the author first relates his own past-life protocol, as well as tips for achieving a successful past-life regression and finding an appropriate regressionist. He then interviews three of his clients about the healing that past-life regression can provide. Next, he discusses the positive and negative implications of what he calls the “old,” time-bound, cause-and-effect notion of Karma that tends to focus on what amounts to predetermined punishment for transgressions committed … Read the rest

31 January 2018

Shrouded Truth: Biblical Revelations through Past Life Journeys by Reena Kumarasingham

Reviewed by Marit Fischer, CRT
in IJRT Issue 30, 2018

Of all the books that I’ve read in my 45 years, there are only a few that I can say have changed my life. One of them is Shrouded Truth: Biblical Revelations through Past Life Journeys, by Reena Kumarasingham.

Reena Kumarasingham is a regression and life-between-lives therapist who has been a trainer and supervisor for the Past Life Regression Academy for many years, teaching students in the UK, Australia, and the United States. In fact, she was my teacher.

Her new book, “Shrouded Truth,” explores the past-life memories of eight souls who lived as some of the people closest to Jesus throughout his life. The story she … Read the rest

31 January 2018

Return to Life: Extraordinary Cases of Children Who Remember Past Lives by Jim B. Tucker, M.D.

Reviewed by Athanasios N. Komianos, BA, CHT, CRT
In IJRT Issue 27, 2015

Professor Tucker has taken us by surprise. This time he wrote a book that will be appealing to everybody, from lay persons to academics. Unlike his predecessor, Ian Stevenson at the University of Virginia, who meticulously wrote his books for the academia as if he were referring to a judicial body, Dr. Tucker writes with patience and wisdom. Without denying the importance of details, he goes into the essence of the stories and provides us with plenty of evidential cases that all make a point. There is much more out there than modern science can grasp with its materialistic tools. It is by focusing on this … Read the rest

6 May 2015

Healing Deep Hurt Within: The Transformation of a Young Patient Using Regression Therapy by Peter Mack, M.D.

Review by Virginia Waldron, CH, CI
In IJRT Issue 27, 2015

This book was written from the perspective of a surgeon in Singapore. Dr. Peter Mack, a trained surgeon at a large hospital, took on a patient who was so disturbed by certain aspects of her life, past and current, that she was suffering from severe and debilitating depression, amnesia, black outs and/or fainting spells, and nightmares. She was unable to work or function in her daily life.
Dr. Mack is also certified in hypnosis as well as traditional surgical medicine. He took on this patient with the intention of using non-medical techniques and therapies to help her get past her inner trauma and conflicts. He choose to use … Read the rest

6 May 2015

An Amazing Human Journey, Volume II by Shakuntala Modi

Reviewed by Albert J. Marotta, MA, CHT
In IJRT Issue 27, 2015

When first asked to write a review of Dr. Modis’ latest work, I didn’t realize the difficulty involved in doing this review. Because of its wide scope and divergent subject matter, it was truly an amazing and remarkable journey. Many books contain intelligence and knowledge. Fewer contain true wisdom.

Dr. Modi’s new book contains extraordinary mind-expanding wisdom, based on hundreds of hypnotic regression case studies that extend over thousands of years. This study is a multi- dimensional history involving both human and extraterrestrial interaction. What I find so refreshing is the agenda free approach by Dr. Modi. Quote from Dr. Modi is: “This is what my … Read the rest

6 May 2015

The Roads of Lives: Essays on Regression Therapy by Pavel Gyngazov

Reviewed by David Graham, CRT
In IJRT Issue 27, 2015

In many ways this is an unusual and interesting book that offers insight into past life exploration. Indeed, Pavel Gyngazov learned about his profession in a very unusual and individual way, working alone in Siberia. His work as a regression therapist, researcher and sexologist led him to develop his own approach and techniques through his practice, and this book represents many of his findings. His approach is designed to help his clients overcome their “internal chatter,” thus becoming able to facilitate their journey to find the source of their issues within their past. While many of his contemporaries help clients to access their human past lives that refer to … Read the rest

6 May 2015

Despite the Angels

Reviewed by the Editor
In IJRT Issue 27, 2015

Have you ever felt you know someone already, even though you only just met? Maybe you knew them in another life. Lucy and David, who live in modern Dublin (Ireland), first knew each other in ancient Crete. They had a baby girl, but disaster struck, and their guardian angels have been trying to reunite the little family for 4,000 years.

Despite the angels’ attempts to be understood, humans often do not hear, and can unwittingly waste whole lifetimes. Now in Dublin things are still not going to plan. Lucy is too young, and David is marrying someone else. Angels are optimists, so they are re-organising, but humans must listen to … Read the rest

6 May 2015

Deep Healing and Transformation

Reviewed by the Editor
In IJRT Issue 27, 2015

This book is a completely revised and expanded edition of Deep Healing. It discusses the essentials of regression therapy and the problems that can be solved by it. It illustrates sessions, personification, catharsis, energy work and body work. Included are finding and resolving attachments, past-life work and soul work. It has a glossary, a bibliography and an index. From the preface:

This book is the clearest possible statement I could make about a beautiful and weird profession. In therapy or coaching, there is nothing that helps as tangibly, as quickly and as deeply.

It is not a panacea, it doesn’t always work, and not with everybody. But usually it does, … Read the rest

6 May 2015